Although I tend to agree with your general view, this is in the context
of a position advertised at £6 per hour. This is a skilled job requiring
someone with 6 months experience. I believe many skilled graduates (in
any geo- related discipline) will see this salary as a joke. Someone
without a degree, straight from A-levels with some experience in GIS
related fields would also see this as an underpaid job. Perhaps not to
the same extent as a skilled grad., but along the same lines.
More importantly, if I outsourced this work for my company, I would be
particularly worried about the 'quality' of the work which may be
completed by offering a post at this level. As you point out, this is
probably a critical stage of the process and fundamental to the overall
quality and success of the GIS.
I agree that any candidate for this position would only be looking to
use this post as a quick stepping stone - which is not the sort of
attitude for ANY job - if you are looking for quality in the final
product.
I do not think the question concerning whether or not this job and
salary is 'beneath' anyone - it is what sort of quality can the employer
expect by offering this type of wage. Maybe they will be lucky this time
round and get a good person in, but as a general business practise to
offer such a low wage? At some point quality will suffer.
Laine
On Thu, 2003-07-10 at 09:31, Mr O. J. Tomlinson wrote:
> Anthony
> Not all people who want to work in GIS are GIS graduates. Some have
> degree's in Geo related areas (with perhaps a couple of modules of GIS
> and a project under their belts) and would see the post advertised as
> one which did not make to many demands in terms of specific GIS
> requirements, but offered a way into the GIS industry for those with
> some experience. The salary may not be great and may not appeal to those
> who clearly see such a job and salary as beneath them, but many good
> graduates will see it as an opportunity and a quick stepping stone to
> better things - which these days is the major route of career progression.
> You may also wish to remind yourself (as someone based in academia) that
> you are given a great deal of freedom and support to develop your skills
> and expertise at little or no cost, which is a luxury many employers or
> individuals can no longer easily afford.
> I do agree however that the GIS industry faces the paradox that what are
> often the most critical jobs on which quality is based are usually the
> worst paid in the industry.
>
> Oliver Tomlinson
> Senior Lecturer in GIS and Remote Sensing (formerly an untrained monkey)
> University of Derby
>
> To unsubscribe or modify your gis-jobs settings, please visit:
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Dr Laine Skinner
Department of Geography, Yr Adran Ddaearyddiaeth,
University of Wales: Swansea, Prifysgol Cymru: Abertawe,
Singleton Park, Parc Singleton,
Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK. Abertawe, SA2 8PP, Cymru, UK.
Tel/Ffon: +44 (0)1792 513163
Fax/Ffacs: +44 (0)1792 295955
http://www.swan.ac.uk/geog/
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